Presently the facsimile machines are part of conventional office equipment are essential. Moreover they are increasingly used in households. Besides such facsimile machines, their users also have access to other equipment such as videotex terminals.
The above conventional facsimile machines comprise means to recognize the kind of incoming calls whereby, in combination with other means, they are able to discriminate between facsimile communications and telephone communications and to route the data-transmission line, which a priori is a telephone line, either onto the facsimile components, among which the modem, or onto the telephone set. These facsimile machines also are equipped with a printer which besides other functions allows them, when in the "local copy" mode, to act as a photocopier.
The modem of these conventional facsimile machines is the V.21/V.27ter/V.29 type of the corresponding CCITT recommendations.
Conventional videotex terminals, for instance of the Minitel type, are designed to receive the "screens" from a server center and to display them. For that purpose they comprise in particular a processor, a modem, linkage means to a telephone set, a keyboard and a screen.
The modem of these conventional videotex terminals is the V.23 type of the corresponding CCITT recommendation.